After over a week of not so much as stepping inside the kitchen to bake, I suddenly decided yesterday that I wanted to make Goldfish cheese crackers…that’s right. Not square shaped crackers, triangle shaped crackers…but goldfish shaped crackers.

A few Google searches later and I had the solution to my dilemma. There was a way to make my own cookie cutter, with supplies I already had in my house! Seriously. It’s supersimple. It may take you more than 2 tries (due to breakage if you fold it too harshly), but it’s not a hassle at all. All you need is an empty soda can, a knife, scissors, and staples (or if you’re like me, tape). I’ve included pictures and directions below :)

And best part? I totally think my goldfish cookie cutter is more accurate than the store-bought one!

After making the cookie cutter, I immediately went to make the cracker recipe, which was quite possibly the easiest thing EVER. All you need is a food processor. Toss in the ingredients, pulse, refrigerate for 30 minutes or so, and you have yourself a prepared cracker dough waiting to be cut and baked :)

Verdict: these crackers were great! Not a carbon-copy of the original Goldfish crackers, since they were a little chewier and less crunchy, but they’re addictive. I think it’s because I used cheddar sauce instead of cheese, which I wouldn’t recommend.UPDATE: They get crunchy the next day! They were just chewy the first day. They’re not “hollow and crisp” like real Goldfish crackers, but they’re still crunchy :)

All in all a really cool recipe (and super easy). Also fun to make with a friend! (Or a brother…who decided that Siamese Goldfish crackers should be created).

Pulse the flour,onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper together using a food processor.

Add the butter and cheese, and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Pulse in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and only enough so that the dough forms a ball and rides the blade. Remove, wrap in plastic, and chill for 20 minutes (I put it in the freezer for 20 minutes and in the fridge for 10) or up to 24 hours.

Bake the crackers: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside. Roll the dough out to 1/8th-inch thickness, using flour if necessary to prevent stickiness. Cut out as many crackers as possible.

To add character to the fish: break off an end from a side of a toothpick so it is blunt. Use that point to make the goldfish eyes. To make the smile, lay the toothpick down on its side, press, and drag. If you try to use the toothpick point, it will ruin the smile.

Optional: Refrigerate for another 15 minutes or so to make sure they won’t spread.

Place them on the prepared baking pans. Bake until golden and crisp (13-18 minutes). Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

They are best when completely cooled and the next day in my opinion. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Before beginning: When handling cut metal, you must be careful–especially if there are children involved with the project.

Draw outline of goldfish on a piece of paper for reference. (Mine was about an inch in length)

Take an empty soda can and cut through it horizontally using a sharp knife.

Using your scissors, cut a strip of metal from the soda can (it should be the circumference of the soda can).

Straighten edges with scissors

Using your goldfish paper template, determine how big the head will be and fold both sides outwards accordingly. Don’t fold too harshly or the strip will break. If this happens, just cut off another strip and start again.

Using your template, determine when to fold the tail. Make sure the end of the tail overlaps at some point, and cut off the excess strip if necessary.

Staple or tape or glue the ends of the tail together. (I used tape over the tail).

For more safety, you may put a protective layer of tape over the top part of the fish (the non-cookie cutting side where you’ll be applying the pressure) as a protection against the metal when cutting. (Thanks, maxrndfx)

I am just so impressed with your DIY goldfish cookie cutter!! That’s seriously such a wonderful idea!! And your little goldfish crackers are absolutely adorable!!! Adding onion powder to the dough was a great idea as well! :)

okay now I am totally impressed. I have made and do every other week homemade goldfish for my little man but seriously honey- I bought my fish cutter- you made yours! WOW! You are so talented. You cook and craft! Awesome!

you’re definitely a better woman than me, who juts opted for whatever mini cookie cutters I had on hand, heh. You’re gold fish cutter turned out perfect mashallah! maybe you should sell them at a competitive price, say $12.95? ;)

you’re simply brilliant to make your own cookie cutter! not only that, even if imake this on my own , they may even look out of shape, i got terrible hands at craft! now those crackers look really attractive!

My daughter and I LOVE THIS! We can’t believe you made your own cutter. You are such a brilliant girl. I would never have thought I could. :) The recipe looks totally yummy and I think any two people in the kitchen would have lots of fun making these together. Have a great summer day.

I LOVE this! What a creative and useful way to recycle those soda cans! Seeing all your little goldfishes just makes me smile and makes me happy. How can you just not want to pop every single one of those into your mouth?!

Wow! These looks great! I can’t believe how smart the idea of making cookie cutters from cans is!!
I was out looking for heart shaped cookie cutters the other day, and a small one costs some $14, which I found ridiculous. Here, I can buy a can for a dollar, enjoy it, then make cutters from it! :D

We stopped buying savoury crackers a while ago because of all the artificial chemicals and MSGs in them. So I’ll make these crackers soon. They look GREAT!

this is such a simple and cute idea. I am such a stinge binge when it comes to money and i love making things so this is a great idea! do you know you can use the same principle to make a stamp. you design the shape and implant it into a half cut potato and then cut away the edges with a knife to leave the shape raised. THen you just need ink and you’re done! *stamp stamp stamp!!!*

thanks for your comment on my blog, im posting a really nice cake recipe that is similar to tirasimu. you chould check it out when i post it, it was my dad’s b’day cake, it is scrumptious!

What an awesome idea! :) They look just like the store bought ones, and because you made the dough yourself, you can control exactly what goes into them (i.e. less sodium than the store bought ones, more natural ingredients, etc).

Unbelievable, I can’t believe you made your own “fish” cutter! How original and creative you are! I hope you come up with other shapes, how about bunnies & chicks for Easter? Witches & ghosts for Halloween? You could start a trend? I am envious of people like you. . . I have a very creative friend like you that just amazes me! Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!

This is just too cute; thank you so much for sharing! I will certainly be trying this soon.
I wonder though, because pop cans are fairly flimsy, is it best to stay with the smaller shapes like your fish? Or do you think getting bigger in size wouldn’t matter?

This is absolutely amazing! I will definitely be doing this. I can see myself doing it on a regular basis, but I think this would be something incredibly fun for my wife and I to do on a Saturday. The great news is, tomorrow is a Saturday!

Creative! I don’t know what it is about fish-shaped crackers that make them all the more enticing. I swear if they weren’t in the shape of fish, they wouldn’t taste as good. Go goldfish! Thanks for sharing this post!

I really love the idea of making goldfish crackers from scratch…& how cute is that to make ur own cookie cutter! I bet there are tons of possibilites with shapes. I am into natural foods and this seems like a great way to make goldfish even healthier! Do you think using a wholewheat flour would work as well?

Awesome! Thanks for the recipe! I have a two year old and a one year old and they LOVE goldfish crackers. And now, after hopefully one day putting this recipe to use, I can feel better about giving them crackers :) Your pictures are great and all your other recipes look amazing too. Will definitely be stopping back in to see what you’re cooking :)

This is so totally amazing! I was at the store at 9:30 p.m. last night staring down a display of Goldfish Crackers in whole wheat, regular, baby-sized, colored, and thinking to myself, why on earth was I addicted to these as a kid and why are my own kids addicted to them? Read the ingredient list and its a bazillion items long! They can’t be good for you. I was thinking I would come up with something on my own, but good thing you shared this because at my lazy rate, my kids would be 18 before I actually did something about it! You ROCK :-)

Oh my gosh this is amazing; I was just eating little goldfish then I saw this page :) Coincidence I think not. I actually want to use your suggestion using NONE dairy cheese cause really I can’t have loads of cheese these days but the goldfish are what you said sooooooo addictive I think its the size and the cheese taste. Anywho Love it thanks :)

Congrats on Freshly Pressed! I think this recipe is what the world needs since Wal-Mart doesn’t nearly have enough goldfish crackers he he he
Insh’Allah, I’ll be coming back quite often to try out this and your many other recipes I have yet to discover. :)

You are so clever! I never imagined that one could make cookie cutters out of empty soda pop cans! Then one can make whatever crackers or cookies they want that require cookie cutters to make them!

They look delicious and one can make Monterrey Jack or Mozarella or some other kind of cheese, cheese crackers shaped like a fish, too. After all, goldfish come in more than one color anyways.

Did you enjoy the Dr Pepper just before hand and then wash the soda can out? And then make the cookie cutters? You must be unusual to already have all of the ingredients on hand for a recipe you impulsively decided to make.

I don’t have any wheat flour on hand, but I’ve some cornmeal around, and some Monterry Jack cheese, not any Cheddar, too, But, I’ven’t a cheese grater handy at the moment

I actually emptied out the soda into a cup for my brother to drink later, and then quickly rinsed the can before cutting it in half.
And hm, I don’t think it’s very unusual to have flour and cheese in the house…at least not in my house anyway :)
Glad you enjoyed the post!

These look great! I saw a show once where they toured the Pepperidge Farms factory and showed the goldfish being made. They rolled out several layers of dough and put them on top of each other before cutting into shapes. I wonder if that would give them more air inside?

Thank You so much for sharing with us your yummy Recipe and moreover i was amazed to check out the home made cookie cutter. Cant wait to try them out. This snack can be best combination with an Indian Spiced Tea.
Great Work :)http://jivraj9teaindia.wordpress.com/

My kids are going to totally freak over this. I was just jotting down a list of cheap fun things we can do this summer without killing each other. They will also enjoy that I will have to buy soda for them to make the cutter, and will enjoy that I will probably injure myself at least once in making it. Seriously though, brilliant! Thanks for posting it.

Hi! Siamese actually has more than one definition in English, and “Siamese twins” mean that two twins were born attached to each other. They’re called “conjoined twins” as well as “siamese”. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjoined_twins :)

My, oh my! I was just surfing into WordPress to learn more when the goldfish graphic caught my eye. I had so much fun watching you at work!! And now, when my great-grandsons come over I can use this project to give them doubled double pleasure — make their own goldfish cutters, cut out their own goldfish and back their own treats while they are home with a couple of boring elderly great-grandparents! What a win/win. Thanks — I’ll be back to visit more.

Nourhan,
how is it that I’m JUST finding your blog? You are an amazing young woman. I so look forward to coming back to see what you’ve done.
That homemade cookie cutter is awesome and the crackers look delicious! Great job!
It’s bookmarked and I’ll be back!

Well what a super idea to create a cookie cutter from a soda can. Love it! I had a somewhat similar problem when I was trying to find a Dachshund shaped cookie cutter a few months ago. In my case it wasn’t the pricing that was causing the trouble, they were just impossible to find here in Holland.
( http://kraaloogje.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/the-delicious-dackel/ )
I will definitely keep the home made cookie cutter in mind for my next cookie project :-)

Well done! Thanks for sharing the recipe and the cookie cutter tutorial. My son has food allergies and can’t eat the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers. Each week at the store, he checks to see if he can buy them. Each week, we can’t buy them and he leaves disappointed. He just spotted me reading this post and asked if we could make them together tomorrow!

Beautiful photos, well organized, love the tone of your writing. I’m putting you in my bookmarks. I really like the way you’ve done this as I’m working on not eating processed stuff and this is an opportunity to make something with good ingredients that’s fun. Love that you put eyes and smiles on your goldfis.! This appeals to my inner child!

I love Goldfish crackers it’s my perfect snack. So I can’t wait to try your recipe (and make the homemade cookie cutter). The pictures of the homemade goldfish look absolutely delicious. Do you think I could add a little cayenne pepper? I like spicy foods. Thanks again for the recipe and your out of the box techniques.

You know, I was wondering the same exact thing! I just checked the ingredients online and it DOES have a leavening as one of the ingredients. I think baking powder would definitely help…I would say 1-2 teaspoons since there’s only 1 cup of flour. Please let me know if you try it!

After I read your post I decided to make an offer to my wife. As I showed her your recipe stated that I would make the cutter if she would make the cracker. Without hesitation or missing a beat she said to me, “lets go fish’n.”
BTW, you may want to point out to readers that handling and working with thin cut aluminum can sometimes be somewhat dangerous. It can cut like a razor and has been known to “splinter” on edges that are not cut cleanly. It’s probably a good idea to cover the sharp edge of the aluminum (the side where pressure will be applied when cutting out the fish) with a layer of masking tape to give some protection, more so if children are helping out.

I must say… I am impressed, and it takes a lot to impress me when it comes to food. If its ok with you, I am posting a link to it on my blog tomorrow! My readers need to know about our site!!!!http://www.InTheKitchenWithQueen.com

Love it…gonna give it a try…but I may find a fishie cookie cutter some place…the idea of making one myself is a little scary…not too long ago I nearly lost my pinky to a paula deen knife..still leary of sharp objects

LOVE IT!!! My Christmas baking wheels are turning dreaming up all the shapes I’ll try to make out of my Coke Zero cans. I reposted a link to your blog on my personal facebook page – many of my friends are also bakers.
Kathleen

Well if these were more difficult, I would say it’s probably not worth it. But given how ridiculously simple it is to make the crackers (just throw everything in the food processor, cut, and bake), then I’d say you should try this at least once! :)

how ridiculously cute! and that’s such a clever idea about making your own cookie cutters – so many times i’ve searched for an odd shaped cutter, and now i know i can just make my own. this would be really fun activity for a kid’s birthday party or something, i know when i was little, my friends and i would have thought this was the coolest:)

I found your recipe and fell in love. Now the Goldfish crackers have travelled over great big oceans to Sweden :) I know cheddar is popular in the US but here in Scandinavia it’s not that common in everyday cooking. I used a flavourful cheese and onion powder which turned out great! I also transformed the recipe into metric measures and created my own little goldfishcutter after your description and it turned out great..

So I’m not sure if I’m more excited about recycling a soda can (lol) or that I don’t need a stand mixer to make this?! Also I can see a varity of ways to make these with the different spices and such! Can’t wait to try these!

I repinned this on my board over a year ago. And I finally got around to making them today. The family is going crazy for them. This recipe was easy to follow. I didn’t make the cookie cutter but had a mini gingerbread man cutter and if you ask me they look like mermaids!
I will certainly be making these again!

The recipe makes twelve and this is enough to serve four people.
It is often best if you go to a place outdoors that means
something to the both of you. * Place other slice of bread on top of
the cheese, margarine side up.